Max Blotas
Max Blotas (b. 1993) is a multimedia artist based between London and Paris
His work addresses the relationship of landscapes and communication technologies through self-sustaining digital and biological networks.
Max Blotas’ installations often take the form of hybrid ecosystems using electronic equipment mixed with organic life forms. He creates interconnected computer-controlled environments located inside industrial containers and surrounded by a technological landscape of digital devices and motorised sculptures. The miniature sets inside the boxes are continuously monitored using digital surveillance technologies and transmitted live onto remote displays. The image reveals shifts in human perspective and makes tangible parallels between digital content and the surrounding reality.
The subjects inside the network are constantly being distorted by an assemblage of causal links, retroactions, multiplicity of scales and loop effects generated by computer. These physical shifts allow the viewer to render the tangible infrastructure of the network, by exposing the multitude of realities and micro events that take place simultaneously within.
During the exhibition (Nor sad or glad the bouncer can’t read it all, and remember that your body comes first, for old love at bubble rock & crappy creek, take me home spinning blossom it might not last ) that is taking place in London throughout June 2020 Max Blotas installation has been in constant evolution. Water is pumped and transferred from outdoor reservoirs to several clusters of environments controlled by a computer. By analysing environmental sensors, algorithms trigger devices and sets of loops in an attempt to sustain life within the artificial landscapes contained in the installation. Bacteria and weeds have been slowly invading the juxtaposed sets, see through crates stacked on top of each other. A tree-like robotic structure, that stands in front of the outdoor access where the water enters, is symbolic of a human figure, slowly splashing water with a motorised leaf. The work operates on differing parallel time frames and by geographic shifts throughout the exhibition. A network of cameras stream at different rates transmit scenes from inside the boxes to on an online platform. These moving images, consequences of the autonomous system, produce and reveal their own soft realities through pixelated windows of tension.
Instagram: @maxblotas
Curriculum Vitae
Education
2018-2020
Slade School of Fine Art, University College London (UK)
MFA in Sculpture
2015-2018
École Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Paris (FR)
Fine Arts BA
2012-2014
Université de Strasbourg/ Université Toulouse II Jean Jaurès
History BA
Prizes, scholarships or awards
2018
Thaddaeus Ropac Prize (Prix des Amis des Beaux-Arts)
2018-2019
Nancy Balfour Trust Scholarship
2018
Kenza Fondation (Institut de France) Scholarship
Exhibitions
Nor glad or happy the bouncer can’t read it all and remember that your body comes first, for old love at Bubble Rock and Crappy Creek take me home spinning blossom it might not last / POOL PARTY (solo show)
Danby Street, London (GB)
June 2020
Sly Composition (group show c. by Camille Lemille)
ISELP, Brussels (BE)
June 2019
Fantôme + AAVE (group show c. by Cesar Kaci & Aliha Thalien)
Le Medicis Gallery, Paris (FR) and Vapaan Tailen Tila, Helsinki (FI)
April 2019
ICART Prize
Elephant Paname, Paris (FR)
January 2019
Exposition des Lauréat des Amis des Beaux-Arts (group show c. by Marine Delveno)
Gallery Agnes b., Paris (FR)
September 2018
Décadence (group show c. by Double Séjour)
Fanklin Azzi, Paris (FR)
September 2018
Taches Aveugles (group show curated by Chedly Atallah)
La Maréchalerie, Versailles (FR)
September 2018
CLIMAX (solo show)
Atelier Saulniers, Beaux-Arts de Paris, Paris (FR)
June 2018
Ratafia (group show c. by Chedly Atallah)
Collectif 23, Paris (FR)
February 2018
Didascalie (group show c. by Camille Lemille)
R2D2, Brussels (BE)
January 2018
Détours Numériques (group show)
Chapelle, Valaurie (FR)
October 2017
Price List
For prices and commissions, please contact maxblotas@gmail.com
NB: The Slade School of Fine Art does not act as an intermediary for sales, nor is it liable for any disputes arising from sales of artworks.